Café Boulud, DBGB, Maison Boulud, Boulud Sud, Epicerie Boulud, so many concepts and ambiances that demonstrate the wealth of his dual Franco-American culture.
Your signature?
“ The product, always of the finest quality, is emphasized. The perfect cooking. The choice of seasoning to best develop the flavors. A concept that I adapt in my restaurant “Daniel” as well as in my brasseries and wine bars in Manhattan (Bar Boulud, Brasserie Boulud, DBGB). I try to use each product in its purest form: freshly husked green garden peas served with pigeon, a simple small fish enhanced with an onion confit, boneless rabbit, stuffed and cooked in a broth and then sliced and pan-fried in order to bring out all of the flavors”…
Lyonnaise cuisine?
“No, the repertory would be too limited if only from Lyon. I lived in Provence, I adore the Mediterranean cuisine, that of Alsace and that of the South-West. Our most representative dishes are often very traditional. Our New Year’s speciality is the millefeuille with scallops and black truffles: scallops with slices of truffles, wrapped in a blanched spinach leaf, then surrounded by a fine crust of flake pastry! In the oven at 425°C for 7 minutes: the flake pastry is cooked, the scallops lukewarm… it’s easy, it’s clean, it’s magnificent”.
French cuisine in America?
“ At the beginning of the 80’s, French restaurants in the United States fell behind those in France which, since the 70’s, were under the charm of the creation of the generation of Senderens, Troisgros, Chapel, Guérard. In America, the cuisine was still continental and pseudo-French with chefs, most of whom worked on cruise ships. The restaurants met with success but all more or less offered the same thing: not always refined but well made classics. By 1980, two clans emerged: the young newly trained French chefs who looked for local producers and the chefs of past generations who imported everything. When I arrived, I wanted to use the skills I learned from chefs such as Michel Guérard, Roger Vergé, George Blanc or Bocuse and still use lovely local American products”.
The difference between France and America?
“In France I learned discipline, I encountered the “Nouvelle Cuisine” of the 70’s, rooted in tradition but benefiting from innovation. In the United States, I learned to be an entrepreneur, a very good manager, who looks at the human qualities of an individual that are not always obvious in their work. It isn’t because someone doesn’t know how to prepare a good soup that they don’t have major potential. I now find young people who are highly educated and who have chosen Cuisine. Their interesting potential makes them evolve along with their choices.
What recommendations?
Have good equipment in the kitchen but not too much and have good products. In addition, you have to know the suppliers, where to buy and, above all, be aware that complexity does not make the beauty of a dish. It depends on the quality”.
Bon appétit, Béatrice
© Pictures: front page and inside page Thomas Schauer for Daniel Boulud